Spring 2001 Season of Natural History Lecture Series Begins at UAlbany

Contact: Lisa James Goldsberry (518) 437-4989

A lecture on "Crossing Labrador By Canoe: A Journey From the Interior
to the Coast" will kick off the Spring 2001 season of the Natural History
Lecture Series at the University at Albany. The event will be held on
Tuesday, March 13, at 8 p.m. in Lecture Center 7 on the University's
Uptown Campus. All lectures will be held on Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m.
in Lecture Center 7 and are free and open to the public.

Jill Bubier, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Environmental
Studies at Mt. Holyoke College, will be the featured speaker for the
first lecture. She will discuss the route she traveled, including the
De Pas, George and Kogaluk Rivers, and retraces part of Cabot's explorations
in the early 1900s. Her presentation will be illustrated with slides
and commentary on arctic botany.

The six public lectures are sponsored by the University's Atmospheric
Sciences Research Center and the by New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation. The series is now in its 32nd year. Other lectures in
this year's series:

March 20: "New England Forests Through Time -- Insights From
Harvard Forest"

John O'Keefe of Harvard University will review the post-glacial paleoecology
of New England.

March 27: "Snowflake Bentley"

Duncan Blanchard, emeritus professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Research
Center at UAlbany, will discuss Wilson Bentley, who took the world's
first photographs of snowflakes in 1885 and coined the saying that no
two are alike.

April 3: "Coral Evidence for the Interaction Between the Pacific
Tropics and Subtropics on Decadal Time-Scales"

Brad Linsley, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences at UAlbany will describe the forensic analysis techniques used
on corals and their interpretative value in assessing global climate
change.

April 17: "Wetlands. Why"

Gary Kleppel, professor in the Department of Biology at UAlbany will
focus on the kinds and roles of wetlands in the U.S. and the research
to understand and protect these valuable ecosystems.

April 24: "Elephant Communication in the Atmosphere"

Michael Garstang of the Department of Environmental Studies at the
University of Virginia, will discuss how elephants use low-frequency
sound to communicate.